Railway fog signaling apparatus.



No. 671,556. `Patented Apr. 9, [901. G'. JEFFERIES.

nAlLwAY ma smNALme APPARATUS.

(Application led Jan, 2B. 1901.)

(No Model.)

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NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE JEFFERIES, OF STOWMARKET, ENGLAND.

RAILWAY FOG SIGNALING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 671,556, dated April9, 1901.

Application filed January 23, 1901. Serial No. 45 ,157. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE Jnnnnmns, a subject of the Queen of GreatBritain and Ireland, residing at the railway-station Stowrnarket, in thecounty of Suffolk, England, have invented new and useful Improvements inRailway Fog Signaling Apparatus,of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to improvements in railway fog signalingapparatus, the object being to provide means for bringing the detonatorsinto position for use by means operated from the signal-box, so that thepassing train will cause two explosions when the distant and homesignals are against and 0bscured or hid from the driver.

In carrying my invention into effect I proceed in or in about thefollowing manner, in which- Figure l is a front view; Figs. 2 and 3,side views respectively of the apparatus in and culi of action, and Fig.4 a side View of a detai Alongside the railroad I provide a verticalframing a, a a d, within which is free to slide up and down the innerframe 19 b b b, having guides c to move freely through openings in theupper cross-bar of frame d ot a a and having also a guide d to slideeasily through the bottom cross-bar of the said frame a ct a a. To thelower end of the guide d is pivoted one end of the lever e, which itselfis pivoted at some point between its ends to a support f, the other endof the lever being connected with a wire or the like g, running over apulley h. This wire g is continued into the signalbox,where it isoperated by a wh eel, lever, windlass, or other suitable lneans so as toraise or lower the inner frame b as and when required. Within the frameb is the drum t', carried on a shaft j and having a pulley 7c, overwhich is wound a chain or equivalent Z, having a weight m at the freeend which can move up and down in the shaft n. At one end of the drum t'are ratchet-teetb o and also a ring of outstanding stop-pins or staplesp. Circulnferentially around the drum i are provided two'rings q ofdetonators r, and above the drum rl are the three shafts s, s', and t.On the shaft s is a spring-pawl lu, to engage with the ratchet-teeth 0.The shaft s also carries the arm o and the shaft S' the weighted arm wand the striking-hammer ce.

The shaft t carries the weighted arm w and the second striking-hammerx', the hammers ou and fr. being in the planes of the rings q. Alongsideone of the rails fy are pivoted the rocking bars ,e z', each of whichhas sloping ends and is kept normally above the rail y by weighted rodsA A'. To the rods A A are linked the lower ends of the slides B B',which are free to Work up and down through the bottom cross-bar of theframe a and within the spaces C C, between the side bars of the outerframe ct and the inner one b. The slide B has a cross-piece D at itsupper end and two uprights E and E', the former of which is the longerof the two. This slide B also carries the inward-projecting arm F, whichextends into the plane of the pins 10. The other slide B' has at itsupper end the horizontal arm G and the vertical one G'. The arms E andG' are respectively in the planes of the weighted arms w and w' and thearm E is in the plane of the arm v.

When the apparatus is not required to be used, the wire g is so operatedfrom the sig nal-box as to raise the inner frame b within the outer onea, as shown in Fig. 3. When, however, it is desired to put the apparatusin position to be set in action by a passing train, the wire g isoperated so as to lower the inner frame b and bring its lower cross-baronto the lower cross-bar of the outer frame a. Then on a train passingover the iirst rocking bar e it depresses it and causes the rod A topartly rotate and by its linked end push up the slide B. The rising ofthe slideB brings the short arm El into contact with the arm n and liftsthe spring-pawl u from the ratchettooth it happens to be in at the time.This allows the weight fm to move around the drum 't' sufficiently tobring two of the detonators fr into striking position. Simultaneouslyone of the pins or equivalentp is caught by the inwardly-pointingprojection F and so prevents for the time being the pawl n entering thenext ratchet-tooth. The upward movement of the slideB also causes thelonger arm E to push up the weighted arm fw and depress the hammer a,and so explode the detonator on which it falls. Before the trailingwheels of the engine or tender have passed o the first rocking bar .athe leading wheels IOO will have passed onto and depressed the secondrocking bar z', causing the rod A' to partly rotate and by its linkedend push up the slide B. The upward movement of the slide B causes itsvertical arm G' to push up the weighted arm w and depress the hammer w',thus exploding the second detonator on' which it falls. When the engineor train has passed over both rocking bars z z', these bars will beraised into their normal position and the slides B and B lowered bytheaction of the weighted arms A and A'. Simultaneously the projection Fwill be removed from under the particular pin p resting on it, and thedrum z' will turn somewhat, so that the pawl u will enter the next oneof the ratchet-teeth 0 and so bring two more detonators into positionready for explosion by the next depression of the rocking bars z z', inwhich position the various parts may remain unless it is required to putthe apparatus out of operative position by raising the inner frame l).The apparatus can be cased in or otherwise protected in any suitablemanner. What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is- Y Railway fog signaling apparatus comprising the followingessential parts, that is to say, an upright outer frame alongside therailroad: an innerv frame slidable up and down within the said outerframe: a horizont-al drum carried bya shaft crossing the said innerframe: rings of detonators around the exterior of the said drum:ratchet-,teeth near one end of the drum: stop-pins projecting from oneend of the drum: a spring-pawl to engage with the said ratchet-teeth: anarm for disengaging the said pawl: a shaft carrying the said pawl andarm: a shaft above one half of the drum: a Weighted arm on the saidshaft: a striking-ham mer on the said shaft: a shaft above the otherhalf of the drum: a weighted arm on the said shaft: a strikinghammer onthe said shaft: means for partly rotating the said drum as eachratchet-tooth is released by the pawl: means for raising the said innerframe and its accessories out of its active position: rocking barsalongside one of the rails: weighted rods to keep the said bars normallyabove the rail: slides on each side of the inner frame: links to connectthe lower ends of the slides to the inner ends of the Weighted rods: anarm at thel upper end of each slide for lifting in succession theweighted arms and simultaneously lowering the striking-hammers onto theproper detonators: an arm on one of the slides to disengage the pawl:and a projection on the same slide to retain the drum in a certainposition, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this speeilication in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE JEFFERIES.

Witnesses:

THOMAS SIMPSON, WILFRED ALEXANDER MAW.

